Rising school reservation fees shock expatriates

The non-refundable reservation fees some international schools charge to ensure parents a place for their children in the next school year has appalled expatriates.
Most international schools in the Kingdom request parents to pay this so-called “seat deposit fee.” They say the fee is needed to estimate the number of children they will have the following year and hire – or let go of – teachers accordingly. They will also know how many new children they can accept, prepare the classes according to the number of students, and purchase the required education materials.
Gabriella Tomolillo, an Italian expat with three children that all attend the British International School of Jeddah (BISJ), says that many private schools in other countries also ask for this payment. When she lived in Italy with her husband and children, they had to make a small pre-payment of € 100 (SR 500) per child per year. This amount would be deducted from the following year’s fees, to ensure they had a place even if they were continuing students.
In Jeddah, however, fees reach SR 3,000 and are to be paid some six months before the school year starts in September. Many expats have no idea if they will be still in the country by that time.
Taco Gerritsen, a Dutch expat whose son goes to Jeddah Prep and Grammar School, which charges a deposit fee of SR 2,000 per family, understands the school’s point of view, but thinks the fees are not completely fair. “You’re actually paying for a service you may not make use of,” he says.
Dammes Ledeboer, business manager at the British International School, does not understand why some parents consider the seat deposit fee a problem. According to him, many private schools use this non-refundable deposit to secure places at the school for the next year, and his school has not received many complaints.
In a reaction, he writes that the deposit has been introduced several years ago to enable the school to assess student numbers for the next academic year and more effectively plan their staffing needs. He stresses that the deposit will be deducted from the fees of the first term.
One of the few international schools that do not charge a reservation fee is Jeddah Knowledge School, but they do request that parents pay the first of three installments by April to ensure that the parents will enroll their child and not block a place for another child who is on the waiting list.